First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Through a multi-country study, "Comparative Perspectives on International School Leadership "examines the current global spread of educational leadership, occurring rapidly and widely. Exploring five international case studies of leadership policy, preparation, and practice under the framework of policy borrowing and adaptation, Magno attempts to understand and account for commonalities and differences across country contexts. Rather than assuming a particular model or theory to leadership is best, "Comparative Perspectives on International School Leadership" takes a policy-oriented perspective and considers how and why certain approaches are being formulated and accepted, including an examination of motivations, influencers, actors, institutions, and implementation processes. Magno ultimately argues that efforts toward formalizing educational leadership reflect current global political objectives to improve schools by increasing accountability, transparency, and professionalism. This engaging book will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of educational leadership and comparative education.

Through a multi-country study, "Comparative Perspectives on International School Leadership "examines the current global spread of educational leadership, occurring rapidly and widely. Exploring five international case studies of leadership policy, preparation, and practice under the framework of policy borrowing and adaptation, Magno attempts to understand and account for commonalities and differences across country contexts. Rather than assuming a particular model or theory to leadership is best, "Comparative Perspectives on International School Leadership" takes a policy-oriented perspective and considers how and why certain approaches are being formulated and accepted, including an examination of motivations, influencers, actors, institutions, and implementation processes. Magno ultimately argues that efforts toward formalizing educational leadership reflect current global political objectives to improve schools by increasing accountability, transparency, and professionalism. This engaging book will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of educational leadership and comparative education.

Contents:
Chapter I. Setting the Israeli Scene
Introduction
Historical Legacies: Roots of Gender Relations and Ethnic Tension
The Functioning of the Formal Political System
Women in political parties
Women's political parties
Women and voting
Women in Knesset, committees, ministries
Knesset's bureaucratic responses to women
Women politicians
Legal Arena
Military Participation
Contemporary Feminist Movement
Living in a State of Siege: The Role of Women in the Peace Movement
The Emergence of Women's Nongovernmental Organizations
Resources and Funding
Chapter II. Minding the Political Gap: The need for and development of a concept of political capital
Introduction
Philosophy and the Public Sphere: Enter Feminist Politics
Women and politics: Toward feminist critical theory
Women, citizenship and political participation
Building Civil Society: Utilizing Social and Political Capital
Examining civil society
NGOs as learning sites
Conceptualizing a New Term: 'Political Capital'
Social capital is too diffuse
A first consideration of 'political capital'
The influence of Bourdieu's cultural capital
The influence of Putnam's social capital
Trust, norms and networks
The influence of political culture
Political education
Education and democracy
Informal education: liberation pedagogy and rights based education
Nonformal education: Consciousness-raising
Definition of Political capital
Political capital in democracy
Chapter III. Revealing political capital: Methods of discovery
Nature of Study
Qualitative research
Feminist research
Research Methods
Research setting
Israel Women's Network
Bat Shalom
Haifa Women's Coalition
Research sample
Sample size
Sample: Socio-demographic description
Gaining access to research sites
Research Instruments
Interviews
Interview process
Particpant observation
Document review
Research questions
Hypothesis
Data Analysis
Limitations of Study
Transportation
Language
Religion
Time
Chapte r IV. NGOs of their own: Women claim public space for political influence
Introduction
Why are NGOs needed: what gap do they address for women and how do they do that?
NGOs create new discourse
NGOs help women connect skills with action
Women benefit more from women's NGOs than mixed-gender NGOs
NGOs politicize traditional voluntary associations
There is political power in the group
NGOs can create a false illusion of change
The formal political sphere is a male sphere
The military encourages male political careers
NGOs provide increased opportunities for women's political participation
Summary
The Influence of NGOs on the formal political system
NGOs participate in legislation, lobbying and commities
Members of Knesset rely on women's NGOs
Most women in NGOs would consider running or have run for public office
NGOs influence the wider society
NGOs influence political parties^
NGOs act as stepping-stones into formal politics for women
Perhaps NGOs should be temporary
Summary
Educational themes in NGOs
Rate of university education is high
Youth movements and student movements are formative
Education in NGOs occurs in two ways: informal and nonformal
Women learn skills through NGOs
Women gain essential political knowledge via NGOs
There is a need for more political training
Social norms in women's NGOs differ from social norms in the formal political arena
Women from horizontal and vertical networks through NGO participation
Summary
How does living in a time of protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict affect women's issues and the work of women's NGOs?
The survival of Israel is paramount
Military careers are held in higher political esteem than other careers
There is overlap between women's and peace NGOs
The rise and fall of conflict influences women's participation
Military conflict possibly increases levels of violence in the civilian society
Conflict creates divided loyalties: nationalist struggle vs. feminist struggle
Summary
General trends in the three main NGOs
Unexpected findings
Relations between Israeli women and women from West Bank/Gaza are extremely strained
Jewish-Arab coexistence lacks sincerity
There are different pathways to NGO activism
Chapter Summary
Chapter V. Conclusion
Introduction
Contributions of the study
Conclusive data
Evidence of political capital
From Social movements to NGO activism
Social and political implications of NGO research
Areas of future research
Summary
References
Appendices
Append ix A: Map of Israel
Appendix B: Timeline
Appendix C: 1999 Election Lists
Appendix D: Current Members of Knesset (MKs)
Appendix E: Women in the world's parliaments
Appendix F: Isreali voting percentages
Appendix G: Current Knesset ministers
Appendix H: Pre-elections advertisement
Appendix I: Letter from Palestinian intellectuals
Appendix J: Patterns of movememnt/NGO relationships